Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“You knew I was worried,” Andrew continues. “Why would you leave me in hell trying to figure things out on my own?”
“You wake up and choose to be in hell every single day, Andrew. Let’s go get breakfast.” I try to step around him.
He moves with me and blocks my path. “After you tell me what’s going on.”
“What did Dad tell you?” I ask.
“Nothing. That’s the point. No one is telling me anything.”
“Then how do you know there’s anything to tell?” I challenge.
“I’m going to throttle you if you keep fucking with me, Lilah,” Andrew grinds out.
“Fine,” I sigh, all too aware that Andrew is about to be in full freak out mode. I need a drink not a coffee. No, I need chocolate, which is acceptable in the morning when packaged as a donut or pancake. I lower my voice. “Ghost showed up at the event.”
“He did what?” His voice is a mix of gravel and worry.
“That’s right. He tied Dad up and offered to kill him for me. When I said no, he broke his finger, and whispered something in his ear before he left.”
Andrew just blinks at me. And blinks some more before he runs a hand over his hair and sits down on the couch. Jay leans in close. “We forgot our coats. I’ll go get them and give you a minute.”
I guess he’s not worried about a daytime drive-by. My stomach growls in protest, but I sit next to Andrew anyway. “We have to capture Ghost before he kills you,” my brother says, his worry for me over Dad telling. He knows who the man we call father is, and he knows the risk he’s taking working with him. My brother is brave and I’m proud of him. I also want him to reconsider which is a topic better served with pancakes and syrup.
“Ghost isn’t going to kill me, Andrew,” I assure him, laughter in my voice, at his drama. “Kill for me, yes. Kill me, no.”
He is not amused. “Those who love us kill us. That’s what the statistics say and killing is what he does.”
“He’s not in love with me,” I counter.
“He’s obsessed and there are studies on obsession and love, and how the brain works.”
“I think you just made that up.”
“Google, Lilah.”
“The same ‘Google’ that once told you allergies was terminal cancer? No thank you. As for Ghost killing people, it’s also what I do, too, remember?”
He rotates to face me. “Stop with that bullshit. You are not him, as proven by the fact that you did not say ‘yes’ to Ghost killing Dad.” His brows dip. “You didn’t, right?”
“I’d hit you for that if I wasn’t sitting here shriveling away from hunger. No one kills Dad but me, but we’re not done with him, yet. We need him to take down the Society.”
“I guess I can see why you couldn’t tell me this on the phone, but for the record, you could have found a way.”
“Kane’s father showed up last night.”
“Shit. What happened?”
“I lured him upstairs. You know what I planned. The world would be a better place, right?”
“Holy fuck, Lilah. He’s a monster. Where was Kane?”
“He’d left to deal with his father, not knowing his father was here.”
“You let him upstairs when you were alone? Please tell me you had bodyguards.”
“Roberto was the one who needed bodyguards, but he’s alive and well, or he was when he left last night.”
“I’m shocked. And frankly, a little disappointed.”
“Yeah well, I love you more for saying that. He proposed he help us end the Society. It made logical sense so let him live. Kane wasn’t feeling the logic though. He took him away. I’m not sure anything but killing him resonated for him. He’s pretty fed up with the way that man and his cartel have haunted his entire life.”
“Knowing the way Dad is controlling ours, I can’t really imagine what it was like for him, considering his circumstances were far worse. How would we use him to end the Society?”
“Can we finish this with food on a table somewhere?”
“Considering how hangry you get, let’s go. I can’t take you any more bitchy than normal.”
“Ah. I love you, too, Andrew.” I push to my feet and he follows me to his own.
Jay arrives at that moment, and I accept my coat, and slip it into place, when a thought hits me, and I eye Andrew. “I don’t remember meeting the lieutenant governor.”
“Because he held his own event at a separate building.”
“Who is he?”
“Nicolas Wellman. He’s one of Pocher’s dweebs, a wealthy dude with a string of divorces. He’d have never been elected on his own.”
“So Pocher picked him, not Dad?”
“Right. Dad can’t stand him, but I get the feeling he was a condition of all the money Pocher threw at Dad’s campaign.”
“In other words, Nicolas was Pocher’s first choice, and Pocher used Dad to get him into office.” It’s not a question. This is all coming together for me now.